Trump says son has paid back Putin ally for partly funding wedding festivities
Daughter in-law Bettina Trump confirms that Umar Kremlev partially funded two nights of their three-day festivities on a private island in the Bahamas.
Trump says son has repaid Putin ally for partly financing wedding celebrations
President Donald Trump said his son repaid a Russian oligarch with close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin for covering post-wedding festivities in the Bahamas.
When asked in the Oval Office about Umar Kremlev’s role in Donald Trump Jr’s celebrations, Trump said it was “totally allowed” and “very common” for others to host wedding parties.
Following an investigation that said Kremlev paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the couple said he had partly financed two nights of their three-day celebration on a private island as a gift.
Trump did not explain how he knew the Putin ally had been repaid.
Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, is a private citizen, so it is not illegal for him to receive gifts from a foreign national.
However, ethics watchdog groups have said that the president’s son accepting an expensive gift from someone linked to a foreign head of state creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, even if Trump Jr is not a US government employee.
Questions about President Trump’s ties to Russia have persisted since his 2016 campaign and led to a special counsel investigation into a meeting Trump Jr attended with a Russian operative at Trump Tower.
Kremlev heads the International Boxing Association (IBA), which is funded by the state-backed Gazprom energy company. The organisation was suspended by the Olympic Committee partly because it failed to report its ties to the Russian energy giant.
Kremlev was also part of a delegation that travelled to China with Putin in May. According to ProPublica, which published the investigation into the wedding events, he has been awarded the Order of Friendship, a top state honour, by the Russian president.
Trump Jr’s spokesperson told the news outlet that the president’s son and Kremlev were personal friends and did not have “a business relationship”.
Kremlev’s office told ProPublica that he and Trump Jr met several years ago and “have a friendly relationship”.